FUGITIVE Christopher Dorner made a bloody and apparently final stand in a mountain cabin outside Los Angeles last night, killing an officer in a dramatic shootout.

During the explosive siege – that seemingly ended the biggest US police manhunt in living memory – Dorner, 33, barricaded himself inside the cabin, which this morning is only a pile of smouldering rubble.

Two officers were shot, with one killed, during the bloody battle that ensued after the ex-policeman was tracked down to the cabin in California's Big Bear area after a week on the run.

The noise of the shoot out was broadcast live by KCAL-TV, whose reporter suddenly found himself in the midst of gunfire.

Someone could be heard yelling at the reporter to get out of the area as the manhunt, which has transfixed the US, reached its climax.

This morning, police stressed that no body had yet been found and that the wreckage was still too hot to be searched.

However, a law enforcement official said a gunshot was heard in the cabin before the fire broke out, and the suspect did not come out as the area was engulfed in flames.

"People on the scene are as confident as they can be without seeing the body that it is Dorner inside," LAPD chief Charlie Beck told reporters.

He added: "It is a bittersweet night. This could have ended much better, it could have ended worse. I feel for the family of the deputy who lost his life."

Authorities take positions during the manhunt for former LAPD officer Christopher Dorner

Dorner's rampage has been congratulated by some in America, with supporters stating his war on police officers is comeuppance for an allegedly racist and violent force.

The naval reservist, is now alleged to have murdered four people in his vendetta against California's law enforcers and their families.

Dorner had a grudge because the force sacked him in 2008 for allegedly lodging a false complaint against his training officer.

In a lengthy manifesto posted on his Facebook page prior to the attacks, he detailed a series of grievances against the department, and threatened police officers and their families with “warfare”.

Dorner wrote online: "You're going to see what a whistleblower can do when you take everything from him especially his NAME!!!

"You have awoken a sleeping giant."

Around 50 police officials and their loved ones were placed under protection after the internet posting came to light.

Randy Quan, a lawyer and retired LAPD captain, who represented Dorner at the tribunal that led to his dismissal, was named specifically in Dorner's online rant.

Quan's 28-year-old daughter Monica and her fiancé Keith Lawrence, 27 were found shot dead in their car in Irvine, Orange County on the evening of Sunday, 3 February.

It has since emerged that Dorner allegedly called Quan after the shooting to taunt him about his daughter’s death.

Police stand at a road block as a gunfight between police and the fugitive takes place

There is a one million dollar bounty for the rogue officer

The vast hunt began on Wednesday 6 February when Dorner, described as armed and "extremely dangerous," allegedly shot three police officers in two separate incidents in Riverside County, east of Los Angeles.

One of the officers, 34-year-old Michael Crain, was killed when a man thought to be Dorner ambushed him and his partner as their car idled at traffic lights.

The manhunt soon widened east to Big Bear and Nevada, and south as far as the Mexican border, drawing in local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

Los Angeles authorities offered a $1m reward for information leading to Dorner’s arrest and LAPD chief Charlie Beck called the vendetta a campaign of domestic terrorism.